Validity of a short questionnaire to assess physical activity in 10 European countries

Abstract

To accurately examine associations of physical activity (PA) with disease outcomes, a valid method of assessing free-living activity is required. We examined the validity of a brief PA questionnaire (PAQ) used in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). PA energy expenditure (PAEE) and time spent in moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was measured in 1,941 healthy individuals from 10 European countries using individually-calibrated combined heart-rate and movement sensing. Participants also completed the short EPIC-PAQ, which refers to past year’s activity. Pearson (r) and Spearman (σ) correlation coefficients were calculated for each country, and random effects meta-analysis was used to calculate the combined correlation across countries to estimate the validity of two previously- and one newly-derived ordered, categorical PA indices (“Cambridge index”, “total PA index”, and “recreational index”) that categorized individuals as inactive, moderately inactive, moderately active, or active. The strongest associations with PAEE and MVPA were observed for the Cambridge index (r = 0.33 and r = 0.25, respectively). No significant heterogeneity by country was observed for this index (I2 = 36.3%, P = 0.12; I2 = 0.0%, P = 0.85), whereas heterogeneity was suggested for other indices (I2 > 48%, P < 0.05, I2 > 47%, P < 0.05). PAEE increased linearly across self-reported PA categories (P for trend <0.001), with an average difference of approximately 460 kJ/d for men and 365 kJ/d for women, between categories of the Cambridge index. The EPIC-PAQ is suitable for categorizing European men and women into four distinct categories of overall physical activity. The difference in PAEE between categories may be useful when estimating effect sizes from observational research.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10654-011-9625-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Levels of physical activity among a nationally representative sample of people in early old age: results of objective and self-reported assessments

“…This suggests similar PAEE in these populations; however differences in assessment methods and population sampling procedures need to be considered. Objectively assessed levels of PAEE and MVPA in our study are lower than those observed in the InterAct study where the same method was used in 54-y old adults from 10 European countries (median PAEE of 40.5 and 44.0 kJ/kg/day in women and men, respectively; and median MVPA-time of 72.5 and 80.8 min/day in women and men, respectively) [56]. Troiano et al [20] reported that accumulated mean time in MVPA assessed by accelerometer (>2020 counts per min, ~3 MET) in the NHANES- population was 12.4 min/day in women and 16.7 min/day in men aged 60–69.…”

Effects of Leisure‐Time and Transport‐Related Physical Activities on the Risk of Incident and Recurrent Myocardial Infarction and Interaction With Traffic‐Related Air Pollution: A Cohort Study

“…The validity of the physical activity–related items of the questionnaire used in this cohort was assessed in studies finding a high correlation between self‐reported physical activity estimates with the accelerometer measurements of total metabolic equivalent in 182 participants22 and with combined heart rate and movement‐sensing measurements in 1941 participants 23…”

Residential neighbourhood greenspace is associated with reduced risk of incident diabetes in older people: a prospective cohort study

“…To investigate the potential mediating influence of physical activity, we derived a summary ordered categorical index of physical activity which has previously been shown to be valid and repeatable [33, 34]. The original questionnaire [35] asked the participant to report frequency and duration of time spent walking or cycling (for work, shopping and leisure) or engaged in other physical activity (such as swimming, jogging and other activities), along with, for those in employment, the amount of physical activity involved in their work (sedentary, standard, physical or heavy manual work).…”